new research by T.H. Chan School of Public Health

ABOVE VIDEO:Wochit News reports on new research recently published in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine that suggests that jobs involving heavy lifting on a regular basis could reduce a woman’s fertility, particularly among overweight and obese women. The study also found that working antisocial hours (in the evenings or night) or rotating shifts, may also impact female fertility.

Heavy Lifting, Shift Work May Negatively Impact Women’s Fertility

MEDICAL NEWS TODAY — Women who have physically demanding jobs may experience decreased fertility, finds new research by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Working schedules that fall outside normal daytime office hours may also lower a woman’s ability to conceive.

Lidia Mínguez-Alarcón, a research fellow in the Department of Environmental Health at T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, MA, was the lead author of the research, and worked alongside Audrey Gaskins, research associate in the Department of Nutrition, among other researchers. The study was published in Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

“Our study suggests that women who are planning pregnancy should be cognizant of the potential negative impacts that non-day shift and heavy lifting could have on their reproductive health,” says Mínguez-Alarcón.

Research, recently published in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine, also found that working antisocial hours (in the evenings or night) or rotating shifts, may also impact female fertility.

Previous studies have found a relationship between factors that relate to occupation and fertility. These factors were described to have an effect on outcomes including how long women took to become pregnant and whether they could carry the pregnancy until their due date.

However, those studies did not measure biomarkers of fertility such as ovarian function and levels of reproductive hormones.